Saturday, April 17, 2010

Vision living

I was reading Proverbs 29 and came upon that familiar verse (18) to many of us, "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he." Here it is in a few different translations:

"Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law." NIV

"If people can't see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed." The Message

"Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law." ESV

"When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful." NLT

For some reason, I was intrigued by the fact that even though I've read and said this verse many times over the years, it was impressed on me more clearly this time that vision living comes about when we keep the law...obey the law...God's Word. We tend to emphasize the vision piece and talk about what happens if we don't have one.

But where does it come from in the first place? Scripture...God's written communication to us. And not only that, but God's divine direction to us that he speaks so clearly as we read the Scriptures.

Over the years, I've seen both leaders and individuals who "run wild...cast off restraint...stumble over themselves" because they don't stay on course with the vision God has given them...personally, professionally, and corporately. And sometimes it even feels like we're doing good and meaningful things...but for some reason it feels busy, disjointed, crazy. Could it be that in doing the good things we lose sight of the God things we should be doing?

I have to admit, I've found myself in that place.

So my challenge for us is to live out Proverbs 29:18 by following what it says:
1. Get back to or discover the vision God has revealed to you,
2. Stay with it,
3. Stay in or get back into God's Word on a consistent basis, and
4. Be blessed...be happy...be joyful because you know you're in the middle of God's vision for you.

It's better to live with a God vision than a good vision.